BlackGold BGT3620 DVB-T2 card - Where are the HD channels? (3 Viewers)

[Bucky O'Hare]

*Supreme;
I have the unlocked SAF5 on MP 1.2A, but have been unable to get smooth HD live TV without resorting to Core AVC Pro v2. On my system (see "My System" for specs) this gives the best live picure. The other codecs (MS codec, PDVD etc) give a slide show effect. Like most I am struggling on with the DIVX AAC codec, as this seems to be the only one that works at the moment.

I had issues with the HD channels when I had my Nova-S2-HD sat card and also a Nova-T USB2 stick installed with the BGT3620 on my old Vista 32bit HTPC/TVserver install but once I had removed them both and moved to Windows 7 x64 things started to work ok. Never had issues with the MS DTV-DVB and PDVD10 codecs for live tv on my older ATi2600 its fine no picture issues using either codec and I have used core avc 2 as well and thats ok. The Divx AAC codec is the only codec that can be used sound with the BGT3620 because of the AAC LATM/LOAS audio stream that is transmitted. We are all awaiting for the MP Devs to find time to correct this and allow us to use maybe the PDVD 10 Audio Codec, the issue is caused by the vbr bitstream and also the switching between 2 and 6 channel versions of the steam which confuses the Divx codec but when I have played back the recorded .ts files of these 2 and 6 ch programs using PDVD 10 application the sound is perfect and the switching between 2 and 6ch audio is seamless.

*Supreme;
I did have problems recording from the BGT3620 on the HD channels but this was related to the EPG. I have now been playing with combining channels & using the Sky EPG from my satellite card. This seems to be much better, but I am having problems with Channel 4. This is an encrypted channel on satellite, & the system seems unwilling to display the channel on the terrestrial listing. I need to play with this some more.

EPG is best handled with the TVserver xmltv plugin and xmltv 0.5.59 to pull a more comprehensive epg from the web I have this working fine and have no recording issues other than me forgetting to set the damn things

The only problem i have no is that MP crashes after a few minds of watching HD channels. I have tried changing the video codec and the best is the divx h264, though this still crashes, but not as quickly at the standard codec.

Has anyone got any ideas for this?

I use following codec setup for Live TV

Video
MPEG2: PowerDVD10 codec on HTPC/TVserver MS DTV-DVD video on Office MP Client

H264: PowerDVD10 on HTPC/TVserver and MS DTV-DVD video on Office MP Client

Audio
MPEG/AC3: PowerDVD10 on HTPC/TVserver and MS DTV-DVD Audio on Office MP Client

LATM/AAC: Divx AAC on both

DD+ MS DTV-DVD Audio codec

Audio renderer: Default Directsound device (MS HDMI)

the same set of codecs are also used for playback of recorded tv as well which is why the sound issue is still there.

 

[Petrovski]

Supreme Try ffdshow instead of Divx for H264 or install PowerDVD10 and use their H264 decoder - I also found HD crashed with Divx set as H264 decoder - I only use Divx for AAC.

 

[oglesbyj]

Hi,

It's only my second post on here Have used mediaportal for many years though. Now in fantastic HD for free !!!
I have this BGT3620 card working *perfectly* now without any issues at all and I'm running still on windows XP.

Stop using middle of the road codecs from MS, cyberlink or divx* - use the broadcast ones below
Here's what I did to get the card working in mediaportal

1) You need http://home.btconnect.com/blackgold/Downloads/BGT_8.0.0.3_Debug-tl.zip
These are patched (debug) drivers that stop the card going 'missing' also stop the card doing a 'no signal' after either a reboot or a resume from s3 or standby. I don't use the debug, just the patch that's included in 8.0.0.3 (check device manager to see the version of your driver and update with the tvserver service stopped)
If that helps you, please let BlackGold know how else does this fix make it to the next official driver...

2) setup XMLTV to grab the EPG for the 4 UK HD channels
Then untick the grab epg for those four specific HD channels in the tv server config -> tv channels -> tv epg grabber
That way all the SD channels EPG comes in over the air, the HD ones I set in xmltv to come from radiotimes. I then used XMLTV's XmltvConsole.exe run from the startup folder for my TV user.This means each time I login, the EPG is updated.
Also in mediaportal tv config -> plugin -> XmlTv I switched off 'Delete old programs before import' as this lost me the EPG for many minutes with it on.

3) here's the best bit
Use codecs from MainConcept. They have demo ones on their website (install their demo showcase to test) note the demo showcase AAC codec only demos for 30 seconds then mutes audio but still allows the video to work, and the demo H264 broadcast codec keeps going forever but has a logo in the top corner.
Now I needed more than 30 seconds audio and hate logos on my screen so ................. pm for info.

4) works so well with the above three things, I did some sqling (sorry if that's not a word!) in my-sql to swap BBC One and BBC One HD in the EPG and channel numbers
I also swapped ITV1 and ITV1 HD in the EPG and channel numbers
I also swapped Ch 4 and Ch 4 HD in the EPG and channel numbers
I also put BBC HD channel on (free for me in London) channel 8 and moved it to appear between BBC Three and BBC Four in the EPG. No, I can't explain simply how to do it, but there are 3 tables in my-sql involved. If you don't know sql then don't try this channel swapping.

Have fun !

*= I know silly isn't it, divx and mainconcept both owned by the same company. Go figure.

 

[allanp81]

Cheers for the idea on changing the order of the channels, just easily switched the SD and HD channels around in the channel list

Fairly straight forward if you're happy manually editing your sql database. Seemed to only need changing in the channel and groupmap tables.

 

[gyring_eddy]

I've just installed a BGT3620 and have been running into problems with no signal after restart/resume. Uninstalling then reinstalling the driver seemed to be the only workaround.

oglesbyj:
Thanks for a very informative post! I'm trying out that debug driver now. I discovered this not 60 seconds after hitting the submit button on a message to BlackGold, asking them if this was a known problem. Guess I know the answer

 

[Bucky O'Hare]

Hi,

It's only my second post on here Have used mediaportal for many years though. Now in fantastic HD for free !!!
I have this BGT3620 card working *perfectly* now without any issues at all and I'm running still on windows XP.

Stop using middle of the road codecs from MS, cyberlink or divx* - use the broadcast ones below
Here's what I did to get the card working in mediaportal

1) You need http://home.btconnect.com/blackgold/Downloads/BGT_8.0.0.3_Debug-tl.zip
These are patched (debug) drivers that stop the card going 'missing' also stop the card doing a 'no signal' after either a reboot or a resume from s3 or standby. I don't use the debug, just the patch that's included in 8.0.0.3 (check device manager to see the version of your driver and update with the tvserver service stopped)
If that helps you, please let BlackGold know how else does this fix make it to the next official driver...

I have never had any issues with card going missing after a resume or a no signal after a reboot but I do just have a single card at the moment and run Win 7 Pro x64 wonder if that makes a difference.

 

[allanp81]

Hi,

It's only my second post on here Have used mediaportal for many years though. Now in fantastic HD for free !!!
I have this BGT3620 card working *perfectly* now without any issues at all and I'm running still on windows XP.

Stop using middle of the road codecs from MS, cyberlink or divx* - use the broadcast ones below
Here's what I did to get the card working in mediaportal

1) You need http://home.btconnect.com/blackgold/Downloads/BGT_8.0.0.3_Debug-tl.zip
These are patched (debug) drivers that stop the card going 'missing' also stop the card doing a 'no signal' after either a reboot or a resume from s3 or standby. I don't use the debug, just the patch that's included in 8.0.0.3 (check device manager to see the version of your driver and update with the tvserver service stopped)
If that helps you, please let BlackGold know how else does this fix make it to the next official driver...

I have never had any issues with card going missing after a resume or a no signal after a reboot but I do just have a single card at the moment and run Win 7 Pro x64 wonder if that makes a difference.

I hadn't had a signal issue until yesterday when it happened to me. It wasn't for every multiplex, but those that did work were suddenly only showing around 15% signal. Another reboot cured it though.

 

[Bucky O'Hare]

3) here's the best bit
Use codecs from MainConcept. They have demo ones on their website (install their demo showcase to test) note the demo showcase AAC codec only demos for 30 seconds then mutes audio but still allows the video to work, and the demo H264 broadcast codec keeps going forever but has a logo in the top corner.
Now I needed more than 30 seconds audio and hate logos on my screen so ................. pm for info.

Ok the Mainconcept AAC Broadcast decoder cures the sound issue with bit rate and 2ch to 6ch changes in the stream so for loads of money its fixable without major code changes need to MP . But he's the kicker for me if I use the Main Concept H264 Decoder I get the slide show I have checked the decoder setup and it set for HWdecoding so go figure . So I have moved the H264 decoding back to PDVD10 H264 decoder.

 

[mm1352000]

oglesbyj

Thanks for sharing. Any idea if those debug drivers support the BGT3540? I have 2 Pinnacle 7010ix cards (BGT3540 clones) and I'm using the latest 6.0.0.49 XP BGT3540 drivers. The Blackgold drivers are better than the Pinnacle ones, but I still get one card missing on startup sometimes - not consistent as to which card so I'm pretty sure it isn't a hardware problem...

 

[allanp81]

3) here's the best bit
Use codecs from MainConcept. They have demo ones on their website (install their demo showcase to test) note the demo showcase AAC codec only demos for 30 seconds then mutes audio but still allows the video to work, and the demo H264 broadcast codec keeps going forever but has a logo in the top corner.
Now I needed more than 30 seconds audio and hate logos on my screen so ................. pm for info.

Ok the Mainconcept AAC Broadcast decoder cures the sound issue with bit rate and 2ch to 6ch changes in the stream so for loads of money its fixable without major code changes need to MP . But he's the kicker for me if I use the Main Concept H264 Decoder I get the slide show I have checked the decoder setup and it set for HWdecoding so go figure . So I have moved the H264 decoding back to PDVD10 H264 decoder.

I'm using the mainconcept aac plus coreavc for video, works great!